ballester molina?

been wanting a 1911 for a long while.. but they are pretty spendy.. so just been window shopping. don't need it for carry.. just 'wanted' one.

fast forward to last year.. loaned guy at work 125$

I don't bug him muh about it but he brings it up every couple months acknowldeging the debt. out of the blue yesterday he stops by.. says he's moving to another city for better work, wants to know if I wanted one of his guns to settle up. he had some sort of cowbow wheel gun.. a SS 12g shotgun, a marlin 22lr tube feeder and this ballestr molina. told me i could pick one to settle up.

figured it was now or never.. already have 2 22lr tube feeder marlins.. nicer than his as well. have more shotguns, including SS than a sane person should own ( i have a soft spot for cheap 50$ SS and bolt action shotguns, andusually take any home from shows i can find in that $$ range... they seem to command no value, and on the last day of shows, people are more than glad to let a new haven 20g bolt gun walk for 50 cash.. so i got.. um.. PLENTY of that sort! ).. i'm not a wheelgun guy really.. and certaintly not into cowboy stuff.. so took the molina, he was happy,i guess i'm happy, wished him well, and he's leaving next week.. etc. it had a single, single stsack mag, and a box of ?aguilla? 45acp with 6 rnds missing

now.. what did i get? it looks 1911ish.. and I havn't uncrated my gun books out of the closet to look it up.

spanish copy?

is it junk? or safe? or good even?

if i take it to the range to shoot, are my buddies with 1911's going to snicker a bit?

one of us get taken here?

no rust... metal would be in the white I guess.. IE.. looks to have finish wore off. has wrigning on it.. c11 a or some such.. grips are wood.. have lines in them.. look older.. were a tad greasy in the verticle crevises i noticed

action seems crisp, functions smoothly.. slid release locks back with an empty mag.. release lets her crack down with a satisfying snap.. after testing that a few times, i then put in some snap caps.. seems to work as it should...went outside and i actually chamberd and ejected a few rounds... from a locked slide, insert mag, pop release, and it chambers correctly and goes into battery.. ejects (manually) fine by racking the slide.. etc. nothing feels especially loose on it...

Argentine, not Spanish. Damn Good Gun. You don't want it, I'll give you your 125 dollars back. Ship it to me. Mine's looking for a friend. He tries to pal around with the Sistima, thinking, "Hey, we're both Argentine", but the Sistima thinks he's a Colt, and is kinda stuck-up.

A ballerina molester has a couple of differences. There's no grip safety, for one. The trigger kinda pivots, instead of slideding back. What you think is the serial number, up there stamped on the receiver and slide, isn't. The serial number is stamped down on what looks like it should be the mainspring housing. The barrel and the magazine are straight 1911. Nothing else will fit.

You scored !! You'll find it a great gun to add to your collection. The serial number doesn't happen to start with a "B" does it? There were a few thousand that were made for Britain and they're harder to find.

I owned one back in the early 90s and have regretted selling it since. I have nothing at all bad to say about pistol at all. I think you got one hell of a deal. If you take it out and find it not to your liking, pm me, I will double your 125.00 in a heartbeat. I don't expect to hear from you though, they are great fun, reliable, and built like tanks.

In 1927 Colt went down to Argentina and built a factory. Made Colt 1911A1s for the Argentine military. Then they left and the Argentines took over the factory. Still making 1911A1s. But even though they were made exactly the same, on Colt machinery, since Colt didn't own the factory any more they aren't Colts. They are Sistimas.